South Carolina licenses behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts through the Board of Examiners for the Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Behavior Analysts, and Psycho-Educational Specialists under the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, with a transition exemption for providers approved by the Department of Health and Human Services before December 31, 2021, all of whom "must obtain a license under the terms of this chapter by December 31, 2026" (S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 75, as amended). The Professional Corporation Supplement defines "professional service" as "a service that may be rendered lawfully only by a person licensed or otherwise authorized by a licensing authority in this State to render the service and that may not be lawfully rendered by a corporation under chapters 1 through 17 of this title" (S.C. Code § 33-19-103(7)). The Attorney General has described the underlying rule this way: "As a matter of general law, it is not within the power of a corporation to engage in the practice of one of the learned professions, including medicine ... This rule has been extended in South Carolina to apply to the health care field of optometry. Ezell v. Ritholz, 188 S.C. 39, 198 S.E. 419 (1938)" (S.C. Att'y Gen. Op., July 7, 1981). The Board of Medical Examiners' advisory opinion on corporate practice states that the board "does not license or regulate corporations" and that a physician's "professional judgment must be independently exercised, regardless of the economic relationship or business form involved" (S.C. Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, Advisory Op., Nov. 21, 2022).
The nine entity criteria at a glance
- Is ABA a licensed profession in South Carolina, and under which board
- The entity menu: what an ABA practice can use
- Can a behavior analyst form the professional entity
- Who is allowed to own it
- Where the two archetypes split
- The learned-professions doctrine and why it is amber, not red
- Naming the entity
- Why choosing the entity is only half the question
- Tax treatment as a separate layer
- Multistate practice and foreign qualification
- How this connects to the rest of your compliance stack
- Forming the entity in South Carolina: the sequence
- South Carolina entity variables at a glance
- Frequently asked questions
- Where professional advice is essential
Is ABA a licensed profession in South Carolina, and under which board
Yes, recently and with a transition still running. The General Assembly amended Chapter 75 of Title 40 to add licensed behavior analysts and licensed assistant behavior analysts to the professions regulated by the Board of Examiners for the Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Behavior Analysts, and Psycho-Educational Specialists, under the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and redesignated the chapter accordingly (S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 75, as amended). The act carried a transition rule: unlicensed individuals approved by the Department of Health and Human Services as behavior support providers or qualified providers of behavior analysis services before December 31, 2021 may continue under their DHHS contracts, must not hold themselves out as licensed, and must obtain a license by December 31, 2026. The board is a multi-profession counseling board, not a psychology board and not a stand-alone ABA board, and its rules for the counseling professions contain no entity or ownership provision. The licensure mechanics and the transition are on the South Carolina licensing and credentialing page.
The entity menu: what an ABA practice can use
South Carolina has a professional corporation supplement and no separate professional LLC statute; LLCs organize under the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. Whether an ABA practice needs the professional corporation is the doctrinal question this page turns on, and the answer on current authority is no.
| Entity | Available for ABA? | Who may own it | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard LLC (S.C. Code § 33-44-101 et seq.) | Yes; the prevailing form | Open; a non-licensee may own | The default. No statute channels ABA into a professional entity, and no authority applies the learned-professions doctrine to it. |
| Professional corporation (PC or PA) (S.C. Code § 33-19-101 et seq.) | Yes; by election | Licensed persons per the supplement's share rules | Available to licensed behavior analysts who want it or who want to remove the doctrinal question. May combine professions if their licensing laws allow (33-19-110). |
| Business corporation (S.C. Code Title 33, Ch. 1 to 17) | Yes, on current authority | Open | An alternative to the LLC; carries the same doctrinal question. |
| Management company (MSO) | Companion entity | Owned by founders or investors | The structure of choice if a physician component is added or if the parties choose a licensee-owned clinical entity to remove the doctrinal question. |
Can a behavior analyst form the professional entity
Yes, by election. The Professional Corporation Supplement is elective in structure: a corporation elects professional corporation status in its articles (S.C. Code § 33-19-109), and a professional corporation "may be organized for rendering more than one type of professional service" where the combination is authorized by the licensing laws of each profession (§ 33-19-110). Whether behavior analysis is a "professional service" for the supplement depends on the definition at § 33-19-103(7), which has two parts: the service must require a license, which behavior analysis now does, and it must be one "that may not be lawfully rendered by a corporation under chapters 1 through 17 of this title," which is a question about the common law, not about the licensing statute. For medicine, the answer is settled by the doctrine. For behavior analysis it is not. A licensed behavior analyst who forms a professional corporation gets a valid entity either way, since the supplement does not bar professions from electing in; what the election does not do is prove that the election was required.
South Carolina's professional corporation statute does not tell you which professions must use it. It points you to the common law and asks whether an ordinary corporation could lawfully render the service. For behavior analysis, nobody has asked a court.
Who is allowed to own it
For an ABA-only practice organized as an ordinary LLC, anyone, on the authorities that exist. Three things support that reading. The Uniform LLC Act is general and contains no professional-services provision channeling licensed professions into licensee-owned entities. The behavior analyst licensing provisions in Chapter 75 of Title 40 regulate individuals and titles and say nothing about entities or owners. And the learned-professions doctrine, which is the only South Carolina rule that could restrict ownership of an ABA entity, has been applied by the Supreme Court to optometry in Ezell and described by the Attorney General as a rule about medicine and the learned professions; no South Carolina court, Attorney General opinion, or board has applied it to behavior analysis, to the counseling professions the same board licenses, or to comparable master's-level health professions. The Board of Medical Examiners' 2022 advisory opinion, the most recent official statement on corporate practice, frames the concern as independent professional judgment and the prohibition on licensees permitting unlicensed persons to practice, rather than as a rule about who holds equity. A non-licensee may own the LLC and take distributions on that record. What the record does not contain is a holding that closes the question, and a practice that wants it closed can organize a licensee-owned professional corporation and place the non-licensee's capital in a management company.
Where the two archetypes split
A practice that adds an in-house physician for diagnostic evaluations adds the profession the doctrine unambiguously covers. The physician's practice must be rendered through a professional corporation or an entity the medical board's expectations accommodate, owned and directed by physicians, and the non-licensee cannot own it. A psychologist component sits in the middle: psychology is a licensed profession, the Board of Examiners in Psychology has its own rules, and whether the learned-professions doctrine reaches psychology has not been squarely decided either, so the psychologist's component should be treated the way counsel treats any South Carolina professional practice, as licensee-owned unless the psychology board's rules say otherwise. South Carolina's supplement adds a structural option most states lack: a professional corporation "may be organized for rendering more than one type of professional service," subject to each profession's licensing laws (§ 33-19-110). Whether a psychologist and a behavior analyst may co-own one professional corporation therefore turns on the psychology board's rules and Chapter 75's silence, not on a closed statutory list. For the diagnostics archetype, the workable structures are a licensee-owned professional component with a management company, or, if both boards permit, one combined professional corporation owned by the licensees of both professions.
The learned-professions doctrine and why it is amber, not red
Washington and South Carolina both have judge-made corporate-practice rules rooted in 1930s and 1940s cases about optometrists. The difference is what each state's highest court has said since. Washington's Supreme Court in 2010 restated the rule as applying to any profession whose practice requires a license and rejected the argument that it is about ownership rather than employment; that is why this guide treats Washington as strict by doctrine. South Carolina's Supreme Court has not done that. Ezell v. Ritholz held in 1938 that a corporation could not practice optometry through licensed employees, reasoning from the personal qualifications, skill, and trust that a "learned profession" requires (188 S.C. 39, 198 S.E. 419 (1938)). The Attorney General's opinions carry the rule forward as a rule about "the learned professions, including medicine," extended to optometry (S.C. Att'y Gen. Op., July 7, 1981). The "learned profession" framing is narrower than Washington's "requires a license" framing, and South Carolina has never said which licensed occupations fall inside it beyond medicine and optometry. Behavior analysis is a master's-level licensed profession regulated by a counseling board, and no authority has applied the doctrine to any profession that board licenses. That is the basis for classifying South Carolina as open with an untested doctrine: the rule exists, its stated scope does not name ABA, no authority has extended it, and the state's own medical board frames the concern as judgment and control. It is not the basis for treating the question as closed. Watch for any Attorney General opinion or board guidance on ownership of counseling or behavior analysis practices.
Naming the entity
A South Carolina LLC name must contain "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C.," "LLC," "L.C.," "LC," or "Ltd. Co." and must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records (S.C. Code § 33-44-105). A professional corporation's name follows the supplement's own rule (§ 33-19-150); "P.A." functions as a professional corporation designation in South Carolina rather than a separate entity type. Clear the name with the Secretary of State before filing.
Why choosing the entity is only half the question
Picking the form is one decision. Who may own it, and how outside capital comes in, is the other, and in South Carolina the second decision is where the untested doctrine lands. A practice owned by behavior analysts has no doctrinal exposure whatever form it chooses. A practice with a non-licensee owner has exposure that the current authorities do not activate but do not extinguish. The management company is the tool that resolves it: a licensee-owned clinical entity with the non-licensee's capital, administration, and enterprise value in the management company at a fixed fair-market-value fee satisfies the doctrine if it applies and costs little if it does not. Decide the ownership with that trade in view.
Read next: Do you need an MSO for your ABA practice in South Carolina?
Tax treatment as a separate layer
Entity form and tax classification are separate choices. A South Carolina LLC is taxed by default as a sole proprietorship or partnership depending on the number of members and can elect corporate or S-corporation treatment; a corporation is a corporation unless it makes an S election. South Carolina imposes a corporate income tax and license fee on entities taxed as corporations, and its treatment of pass-through business income is worth modeling. Decide the tax layer with a South Carolina tax adviser.
Multistate practice and foreign qualification
If you operate beyond South Carolina, the South Carolina LLC is only your home-state piece. To deliver services in another state you generally register there as a foreign entity and meet that state's own ownership and entity rules. North Carolina and Georgia are open on their own reasoning; a South Carolina LLC owned by a non-licensee cannot simply qualify in a state that channels ABA into licensee-owned entities. Multistate groups usually standardize on a structure that satisfies the strictest state in the footprint rather than the most permissive. See the practice expansion and sale page for the multistate view.
How this connects to the rest of your compliance stack
Entity choice is one layer. Others interact with it:
- Ownership and outside capital. South Carolina is open on current authority with an untested doctrine; the management company resolves the question for a non-licensee owner. See the South Carolina MSO and ownership page.
- Licensing and credentialing. Every clinician delivering ABA holds the Chapter 75 license, and DHHS-approved providers in the transition must be licensed by December 31, 2026. See licensing and credentialing in South Carolina.
- Payor and Medicaid enrollment. The entity and its ownership are disclosed at enrollment and revalidation, and South Carolina Medicaid's ABA benefit is tied to the same DHHS provider approvals the transition rule references. See South Carolina Medicaid and the insurance mandate.
Forming the entity in South Carolina: the sequence
- License the practitioners. Behavior analysts and assistants licensed by the LLR board under Chapter 75 of Title 40; any DHHS-approved unlicensed providers must be licensed by December 31, 2026.
- Decide the archetype and the ownership. ABA-only or with a physician or psychologist; and whether a non-licensee will own the clinical entity, which is where the untested doctrine matters.
- Form the ABA entity. A standard LLC by articles of organization under S.C. Code 33-44-202 and 33-44-203, or a professional corporation under Chapter 19 of Title 33 if the licensees elect it.
- Clear the name. LLC designator under 33-44-105; PC designator under 33-19-150 if elected.
- Adopt an operating agreement. Set ownership and management, and reserve clinical authority to a licensed behavior analyst clinical director; if a non-licensee owns, draft against the judgment-and-control concerns the medical board articulates.
- If diagnostics are in-house, structure the professional component. Licensee-owned professional corporation for a physician; psychology per that board's rules; a combined multi-profession PC only if each licensing law allows (33-19-110).
- Watch for guidance. An Attorney General opinion or board statement applying the learned-professions doctrine to counseling or behavior analysis would change the classification.
South Carolina entity variables at a glance
| Variable | South Carolina value |
|---|---|
| Is ABA a licensed profession? | Yes; S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 75, as amended; LLR Board of Examiners for the Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Behavior Analysts, and Psycho-Educational Specialists; DHHS-approved providers must be licensed by December 31, 2026 |
| Is a PLLC available? | No separate form; LLCs organize under the Uniform LLC Act (33-44) |
| Professional corporation | Elective (33-19-109); available to licensed behavior analysts; multi-profession if licensing laws allow (33-19-110) |
| Definition of professional service | Licensed service "that may not be lawfully rendered by a corporation under chapters 1 through 17" (33-19-103(7)); turns on the common law |
| Corporate-practice doctrine | Common-law "learned professions" rule: Ezell v. Ritholz, 188 S.C. 39 (1938) (optometry); Att'y Gen. Op. July 7, 1981 (medicine, optometry); not applied to behavior analysis |
| Medical board position | Advisory opinion, Nov. 21, 2022: board does not regulate corporations; independent judgment required regardless of business form |
| Board entity rule for ABA | None |
| Ownership flexibility for ABA | Open on current authority; doctrine untested; licensee-owned entity plus management company removes the question |
| Diagnostics component | Physician: licensee-owned; psychology: per its board; combined PC possible under 33-19-110 if both licensing laws allow |
| Naming | LLC designator (33-44-105); PC name rule (33-19-150) |
| Key authorities | S.C. Code §§ 33-19-103, 33-19-109, 33-19-110, 33-19-150; §§ 33-44-105, 33-44-202, 33-44-203; Title 40, Chapter 75; Ezell v. Ritholz; Att'y Gen. Op. July 7, 1981; Bd. of Med. Exam'rs Advisory Op. Nov. 21, 2022 |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a professional corporation to run an ABA practice in South Carolina?
Can a non-licensee own my South Carolina ABA practice?
Why is South Carolina amber when Washington is red?
Can my behavior analysts and a psychologist own one professional corporation?
What is the December 31, 2026 date?
Where professional advice is essential, not optional
South Carolina is the state in this guide where the entity answer is easy and the ownership answer depends on how much unsettled common law a practice is willing to carry. The places to spend counsel's time are the learned-professions doctrine as applied to a non-licensee-owned ABA entity, whether to resolve it by using a licensee-owned professional corporation and a management company, the physician or psychology component if one is added, the 33-19-110 combined-corporation option, and the licensure transition ending December 31, 2026. Confirm the form, the ownership, and the tax treatment with a South Carolina attorney and a tax adviser before you file.
The governing authorities to know are the Professional Corporation Supplement (S.C. Code §§ 33-19-103, 33-19-109, 33-19-110, and 33-19-150), the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (S.C. Code § 33-44-101 et seq.), the behavior analyst licensure provisions in Chapter 75 of Title 40, and the corporate-practice authorities, Ezell v. Ritholz, 188 S.C. 39 (1938), the Attorney General's July 7, 1981 opinion, and the Board of Medical Examiners' November 21, 2022 advisory opinion.
This page describes general patterns in a regulatory environment that changes, and South Carolina's corporate-practice rule is unsettled for non-physician professions. The South Carolina Secretary of State, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, the Board of Examiners in Psychology, and qualified counsel provide current requirements. Neither this page nor any secondary source should be relied on in place of direct verification with the relevant authorities and counsel.